A friend of mine is leading a meeting tonight on the 3rd Step. And very happy to be doing it. Great subject for anyone of us. In fact, we were talking today on the importance of these first three Steps. They’re the foundation on which we build this sober life we have come to know and depend upon.
Of course none of us are going to get too far without that 1st Step. Total surrender to our being powerless over alcohol. No exceptions. I look back and know that there was no question on what happened to me. I saw myself as being totally imprisoned in alcohol. I could not stop drinking no matter what I tried. I had to reach a place in total despair, not knowing there was a solution, where I no longer wanted to go on living.
Not only that, but it was clear to me that my life was out of control. Totally unmanageable. I had no direction. My life was going downhill fast. In fact, I had no life I found out. I had no idea how to live. And I was going to find that in here.
Bill W. tells us that it’s only the 1st Step that we can work perfectly. One hundred percent. The pain that brought me here, caused me to completely surrender, is what opened the door to a new way of life.
And then there’s that 2nd Step that I keep going back to. This is the one that opened the door to a brand new way of thinking. It was the start of prying open this closed mind of mine and allowing a little sunlight into the darkness within. The introduction to the answer. The solution. I was driven to find a Higher Power. Something greater than myself. I mean, come on. In the condition I was in anything could be greater than I was.
But this was going to be different. I was introduced to something, which was going to change me and empower me to live a new way of life. A spiritual life. And for me that was a revolution. Something I had tried to avoid. But I knew, if I was going to have a chance to live, I was going to have to change. To make a decision to choose a way out of the insanity I had been living. Drinking alcohol.
And that’s followed immediately by another challenge to this mind, which had been totally corrupted by alcohol. Now I was asked to formally step up and turn my will and my life over to…not God…but how I personally understand a God. Those men and women, who began this program, understood that not everyone would be able to come to accept the concept of God alone.
What they foresaw, and actually were dealing with early on, were people, who in one way or another, were either confused about the concept of a God, or never did or would believe. So, as my friend up here always said, they came up with the five words, which saved AA. God as we understand Him. That opened the door to everyone. Atheist, agnostic, Protestant, Catholic, Jews, Hindus…and on an on. This program has worked for everyone, who wants to get sober.
I always liked that line in the chapter Working With Others, where it states that we’re not here to teach the new man or woman what we believe. That’s up to them to work out whatever concept makes sense to them.
And, I found out, after I got my exhausted brain out of the way, that I was only going to have to turn my will and life over to the care of God. That made a big difference, when it finally became clear to me what this Step was about. I only had to learn how to turn things over to God. However the choices, whether I was willing to do God’s will or mine, were left up to me. And, as I have learned over time and a lot of falling flat on my face, this is not always an easy surrender. Everyday is a challenge to this alcoholic. However my life is so much better.
The 3rd Step up the ladder. The way to a spiritual awakening, which will restore me to sanity. The sanity of not drinking alcohol. What a gift! I am so fortunate that I became an alcoholic, so that I could be eligible to become a member of this fellowship and have the way of life I have found in here. For that I am truly grateful.